diff --git a/Tiltfile b/Tiltfile
index 7187f3793862..fa5b97684163 100644
--- a/Tiltfile
+++ b/Tiltfile
@@ -366,7 +366,7 @@ def enable_provider(name, debug):
         k8s_yaml(p.get("context") + "/" + resource)
         additional_objs = additional_objs + decode_yaml_stream(read_file(p.get("context") + "/" + resource))
 
-    if p.get("kustomize_config", True):
+    if p.get("apply_provider_yaml", True):
         yaml = read_file("./.tiltbuild/yaml/{}.provider.yaml".format(name))
         k8s_yaml(yaml, allow_duplicates = True)
         objs = decode_yaml_stream(yaml)
diff --git a/docs/book/src/developer/tilt.md b/docs/book/src/developer/tilt.md
index 1b632738a064..037a518721ac 100644
--- a/docs/book/src/developer/tilt.md
+++ b/docs/book/src/developer/tilt.md
@@ -429,7 +429,13 @@ COPY --from=tilt-helper /usr/bin/docker /usr/bin/docker
 COPY --from=tilt-helper /go/kubernetes/client/bin/kubectl /usr/bin/kubectl
 ```
 
-**kustomize_config** (Bool, default=true): Whether or not running kustomize on the ./config folder of the provider.
+**kustomize_folder** (String, default=config/default): The folder where the kustomize file for a provider
+is defined; the path is relative to the provider root folder.
+
+**kustomize_options** ([]String, default=[]): Options to be applied when running kustomize for generating the
+yaml manifest for a provider. e.g. `"kustomize_options": [ "--load-restrictor=LoadRestrictionsNone" ]`
+
+**apply_provider_yaml** (Bool, default=true): Whether to apply the provider yaml.
 Set to `false` if your provider does not have a ./config folder or you do not want it to be applied in the cluster.
 
 **go_main** (String, default="main.go"): The go main file if not located at the root of the folder
diff --git a/hack/tools/internal/tilt-prepare/main.go b/hack/tools/internal/tilt-prepare/main.go
index 0c825b94a9c6..07b34a85f3c4 100644
--- a/hack/tools/internal/tilt-prepare/main.go
+++ b/hack/tools/internal/tilt-prepare/main.go
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import (
 	"io/fs"
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
+	"path"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
@@ -36,6 +37,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
 	appsv1 "k8s.io/api/apps/v1"
+	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured"
 	kerrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/errors"
@@ -129,8 +131,11 @@ type tiltProvider struct {
 }
 
 type tiltProviderConfig struct {
-	Context *string `json:"context,omitempty"`
-	Version *string `json:"version,omitempty"`
+	Context           *string  `json:"context,omitempty"`
+	Version           *string  `json:"version,omitempty"`
+	ApplyProviderYaml *bool    `json:"apply_provider_yaml,omitempty"`
+	KustomizeFolder   *string  `json:"kustomize_folder,omitempty"`
+	KustomizeOptions  []string `json:"kustomize_options,omitempty"`
 }
 
 func init() {
@@ -339,7 +344,11 @@ func tiltResources(ctx context.Context, ts *tiltSettings) error {
 		if !ok {
 			return errors.Errorf("failed to obtain config for the provider %s, please add the providers path to the provider_repos list in tilt-settings.yaml/json file", providerName)
 		}
-		tasks[providerName] = workloadTask(providerName, "provider", "manager", "manager", ts, fmt.Sprintf("%s/config/default", *config.Context), getProviderObj(config.Version))
+		if ptr.Deref(config.ApplyProviderYaml, true) {
+			kustomizeFolder := path.Join(*config.Context, ptr.Deref(config.KustomizeFolder, "config/default"))
+			kustomizeOptions := config.KustomizeOptions
+			tasks[providerName] = workloadTask(providerName, "provider", "manager", "manager", ts, kustomizeFolder, kustomizeOptions, getProviderObj(config.Version))
+		}
 	}
 
 	return runTaskGroup(ctx, "resources", tasks)
@@ -361,8 +370,11 @@ func loadTiltProvider(providerRepository string) (map[string]tiltProviderConfig,
 		contextPath := filepath.Join(providerRepository, ptr.Deref(p.Config.Context, "."))
 
 		ret[p.Name] = tiltProviderConfig{
-			Context: &contextPath,
-			Version: p.Config.Version,
+			Context:           &contextPath,
+			Version:           p.Config.Version,
+			ApplyProviderYaml: p.Config.ApplyProviderYaml,
+			KustomizeFolder:   p.Config.KustomizeFolder,
+			KustomizeOptions:  p.Config.KustomizeOptions,
 		}
 	}
 	return ret, nil
@@ -674,9 +686,12 @@ func kustomizeTask(path, out string) taskFunction {
 // workloadTask generates a task for creating the component yaml for a workload and saving the output on a file.
 // NOTE: This task has several sub steps including running kustomize, envsubst, fixing components for debugging,
 // and adding the workload resource mimicking what clusterctl init does.
-func workloadTask(name, workloadType, binaryName, containerName string, ts *tiltSettings, path string, getAdditionalObject func(string, []unstructured.Unstructured) (*unstructured.Unstructured, error)) taskFunction {
+func workloadTask(name, workloadType, binaryName, containerName string, ts *tiltSettings, path string, options []string, getAdditionalObject func(string, []unstructured.Unstructured) (*unstructured.Unstructured, error)) taskFunction {
 	return func(ctx context.Context, prefix string, errCh chan error) {
-		kustomizeCmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, kustomizePath, "build", path)
+		args := []string{"build"}
+		args = append(args, options...)
+		args = append(args, path)
+		kustomizeCmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, kustomizePath, args...)
 		var stdout1, stderr1 bytes.Buffer
 		kustomizeCmd.Dir = rootPath
 		kustomizeCmd.Stdout = &stdout1
@@ -823,11 +838,14 @@ func prepareWorkload(name, prefix, binaryName, containerName string, objs []unst
 
 				container.LivenessProbe = nil
 				container.ReadinessProbe = nil
+
+				container.Resources = corev1.ResourceRequirements{}
 			}
 
 			container.Command = cmd
 			container.Args = args
 			deployment.Spec.Template.Spec.Containers[j] = container
+			deployment.Spec.Replicas = ptr.To[int32](1)
 		}
 	})
 }